PJ:
What was the single most important highlight of
your surfing career?
LB: (pause) Well, I think
there have been so many highlights in my career,
it is kind of hard to say. Actually doing those
contests for the women, it is very gratifying.
But for a personal thing, I don't know. Of course
I was 15 when I won the Makaha, which was our
Worlds at the time, which was a huge thing. 1959
was so great because so many surfers were over
there. It was when John Severson was first filming
for the very first Surfer magazine. There were
a lot of photographers there. In 1960 only 3 photographers
had movies of that past winter on the North Shore
and they took it all the auditoriums and that
was a great thing we looked forward to. So that
year, 1959, over in Hawaii, being over there with
everybody, it was really a special year. The Walk
of Fame also, probably to be recognized there
and to be on the sidewalk that's pretty high too.
PJ: Describe yourself using
the letters of your name... L-I-N-D-A
LB: Oh no. Ok I'll try.
L = for Lively. The energy that doing this contests
brings into me, I'll call it energy. I = (gosh
I can't do this Prue) Independent, that would
work. N = certainly not nonchalant lately. I don't
want to be nervous. I am Nocturnal lately, with
the contest. D = Dedicated. I can say I am dedicated
to women longboarders. A = Abundance, the gifts
I have received from surfing. It has been a long
ride and I am very grateful for it.
PJ: You flew all over the
world with United Airlines. Outside of the US,
what was your favorite destination and why?
LB: I have two favorite
destinations outside of the US. One would be Sydney.
I think that is the prettiest city in the world.
I had some friends there that I would go visit,
Snow McAllister. I just loved walking around the
botanical garden, walking through that and down
around by the Opera house, it is just amazing.
The other one would be Hong Kong and I liked it
because you could just kind of lose yourself and
everyone was my size. I could look everyone in
the eye.
PJ: The women's surf industry
is larger than ever, yet two of the largest women's
surf magazines in America recently closed their
doors for business and many of the world's best
female surfers can't even get sponsorship support.
What do you think is going on?
LB: About sponsorship for
women surfers. I think it is going to grow. It
is going to get better. Well, Roxy and the big
money that is coming on board is definitely going
to help this. I know for Cardiff we are having
a live web cast and that will be taken on the
ASP's website and you will be able to follow scores
from around the world. The more that we are out
there, the more I think people are going to come
on board. I know some of the top surfers have
been sponsored but I am hoping it is going to
be filtering down so that there are more women
that can be benefiting from this. I just think
the more marketing big companies do, the more
attention it will get. I think that people will
want to say, you know this is a good thing. It
is interesting the reason the state gave me the
permit. It's that they were very interested in
how the women put on the World Championships in
Ocean Beach and they liked that story. They liked
the story about that and the fact that we just
didn't give up. We put something on that was very
difficult and we were determined to do that.
PJ: Yeah, we didn't even
have four months.
LB: Yeah, we only had four
months, and I had four women in the core group,
three liaisons to the competitors...Cori Schumacher,
Julie
Cox and Kassia
Meador and my senior advisor Prue
Jeffries. Many others helped to make the event
possible. (waves to a friend driving by) And I
think it is a good story. Women have always been
the underdog and I think it is a natural thing
to kind of want to help out. So you know, I think
it is going to get better.
PJ: Do you see yourself
as a role model? If so, what does that entail?
LB: Well, I don't know If
I am a role model or not. I have been here a long
time and you know I have just tried to behave,
most of the time in an acceptable manner. You
know I fell into this contest thing and it was
certainly never planned, never had any experience
in this. You learn fast, you have to and The Worlds
at Ocean Beach was a perfect place, so if I am
a role model because of all this, I hope so. There
will be people behind me that will take this on.
It is very necessary because we need role models.
PJ: If you could give one
piece of advice to a girl coming up through the
longboarding ranks, what would it be?
LB: You know I think it
is important for the women to behave in an acceptable
manner. I think they are all role models, they
just have too remember to you know, be careful
with what you say when you are being interviewed
and that sort of thing. That is important and
how we portray ourselves to the public, to the
media, you know whatever it is.
Linda Benson
Interview | 1
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